For years, Hamilton County and the City of Cincinnati have been mired in dysfunction as they have struggled to manage the Metropolitan Sewer District. And ratepayers have been victimized in the process. This editorial board is tepidly optimistic, then, about a new deal struck last week by the city and the county that could end turf wars, and quicken the pace of fixing sewers and cleaning up waterways.

After months of negotiations and court-ordered prodding, Mayor John Cranley and County Board of Commissioners President Todd Portune rolled out a plan Wednesday that would, among other things, create a five-person oversight board comprised of three appointees by the county and two by the city. This board would oversee day-to-day operations and projects at MSD and make personnel decisions such as the hiring and firing of the utility's director and deputy director.

The county would retain authority over MSD's budget and water and sewer rates. And all MSD workers, currently city employees, would become county employees, though they would continue to pay into the city's pension system for the time being. The county would also be obligated to fix ongoing odor issues in Lower Price Hill and any future environmental issues that arise.

Cranley and Portune have hailed the agreement as a solid and thoughtful document that puts the public interest ahead of politics. Perhaps, but is this the best possible outcome for ratepayers?

Cincinnati mayor John Cranley and Commissioner Todd Portune take questions after unveiling a plan to place the sewer district under the control of Hamilton County during a press conference at the Metropolitan Sewer District administration building in the Lower Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati on Wednesday, July 26, 2017.(Photo: Sam Greene)

The agreement is a good start and it could be strengthened with continued conversation and a thorough public vetting. Cranley, Portune, Commissioner Denise Driehaus and Vice Mayor David Mann deserve credit for hammering out a deal that both sides felt they could live with. But all of those conversations occurred behind closed doors, outside of the public forum.

Now that the public is getting its first glimpse of the revamp of MSD, officials are trying to jam the proposal through in less than two weeks. A vote on the deal is planned for Aug. 9. Officials have been in a hurry to cut a deal before Aug. 15, when the sewer district takes several projects to the bond market. But that's not nearly enough time for the public, City Council or County Commission to thoughtfully review the proposal, properly vet the data supporting it or work out any kinks in the deal. And there are a few snags that give us pause.

Oversight and quality control of the five-member community board. While the two city-appointed members of the board give Cincinnati a voice, and potentially, veto power over personnel decisions and selecting locations for treatment plants, decisions such as those would require a 4-1 "super majority" of the board to gain approval. However, the agreement doesn't specifically say how those decisions would be made if a super majority cannot be reached. The best guess at this point is the issue would go to court, which would involve more costly litigation for ratepayers.

Qualifications and criteria for selecting board members, who will be paid $12,000 a year. Officials need to make sure that their appointees are experts familiar with the ins and outs of running a public utility, such as waste management experts and hydrologists and not prominent donors or political friends.

Board autonomy and accountability. Elected officials are accountable to voters for their decisions, but there seems to be no such check on the members of the new MSD board. Skeptics might look at this as a convenient way for elected officials to pass the buck of responsibility on controversial decisions ratepayers don't like.

MSD ownership. We still don't know who owns sewer district assets. This has been a fatal flaw. Kicking that can down the road for another 45 years is not good public policy, and the two sides should make every effort to resolve who owns what. The assets the city brought to the marriage are now impossibly entangled with county property and improvements that countywide ratepayers have funded in the nearly 50 years of the MSD operating agreement. Courts have already said the county is the owner of MSD and the city the operator. It might be in the city's best interest to try to resolve this question amicably now.

Finally, the biggest hiccup could involve the city's pension system. This whole deal hinges on the city and county's ability to get state law changed to allow MSD employees, new and existing, to continue to pay into the city's retirement system despite being county employees. County employees typically pay into the same state retirement system, known as Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. It could be a very big lift for local officials to convince state lawmakers to allow the change, particularly in a Republican-controlled statehouse not known for doing favors for Democrat-controlled Cincinnati and Hamilton County. Both State Rep. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, and Sen. Cecil Thomas, D-North Avondale, have said they would be willing to help, but expect such a change would be difficult to achieve.

The pension issue is a big deal for Cincinnati, which cannot afford for more than 600 MSD employees to suddenly walk away from the city's retirement plan. Though the agreement calls for the city and county to review this arrangement every five years with MSD employees eventually moving to the state pension plan, failure to secure the change in law would almost certainly scuttle the deal. It would have been preferable for city and county officials to have stronger support and endorsements from state lawmakers prior to the proposal's roll out.

But despite these concerns, the editorial board feels this is a deal worth preserving and strengthening. We agree with Portune that a conclusion to the dysfunction is needed for the benefit of the workforce, operations and ratepayers. The legal battle and the expense of it also need to end.

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City and county officials estimate the proposed deal would result in savings of $4 million to $5 million a year in legal fees and expenses, or roughly 2 percent of MSD's operating budget. While that may not have a direct impact on rates, it's money that could be put into fixing sewers.

MSD employees also deserve peace of mind and some degree of stability concerning their employment future. No longer having to report to two masters should increase productivity, cut down on delays and reduce duplication of services. Cranley and Portune say the agreement already has the blessing of both of MSD's bargaining units.

The proposal isn't perfect. Deals this complex rarely are. While the bond market rating does create some urgency, the two sides should take as much time as necessary to come up with the best deal possible by listening to ratepayers and addressing the concerns mentioned here.

In the end, we'd rather see the revamping of operations at MSD solved through negotiations than turning over the decision to a judge.